1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a spinning reel, and more particularly to a spinning reel having a screw shaft for reciprocating a spool disposed on the spinning reel.
2. Description of the Related Art
A spinning reel typically includes a reel main body, a rotor rotatably supported by the reel main body, and a spool supported by the reel main body. Fishing line is wound around the outer periphery of the spool.
The reel main body is equipped with a handle and a handle shaft, with a face gear fixed to the handle shaft. The face gear is meshed with a pinion gear, with an end portion of the pinion gear fixed to the rotor. An intermediate gear is fitted to an end portion of the screw shaft and is meshed with the pinion gear. An end portion of the pinion gear is supported by a bearing portion and is disposed within the circumference of the face gear. A slider is engaged with a spool shaft, and the screw shaft moves the slider along the screw shaft, thereby reciprocating the spool and the spool shaft.
The rotor includes a pair of bail supporting arm portions, with a bail and a line roller for guiding the fishing line around the outer periphery of the spool being disposed between both the bail supporting arm portions.
With this type of spinning reel, when the handle is rotated by the user, the rotor spins around the periphery of the spool and the spool reciprocates, thereby allowing the fishing line to be uniformly wound around the outer periphery of the spool.
The type of spool reciprocating mechanism described above allows the range of reciprocal motion of the spool to be increased without increasing the diameter of the face gear or the overall size of the reel body. However, when the diameter of the face gear is small, the gear ratio is such that operation of the handle is often not optimal. In other words, a spinning reel with a smaller face gear requires the user to apply more force to spin the rotor than a spinning reel with a larger face gear.
It is desirable for an end portion of the pinion gear to be supported by a ball bearing mechanism, so that the force needed to spin the rotor could be reduced. However a small face gear does not provide sufficient space for a ball bearing mechanism to be disposed at the end portion of the pinion gear adjacent to the face gear.